It's remarkable that the stretch of mere weeks left such an impression on fans of the hometown nine, but everyone I talk to remembers watching the onetime Gold Glover bumble about the field and look lost at the plate.

Rather than bring up that dismal 14 game stretch and just leave you depressed going into the weekend, how about a little dose of Ichiro to spice up the Boone remembrance? Besides being a unique player and one of the most compelling figures of our era, the Mariner right fielder is also arguably the best quote in baseball.

If you've followed his sly wit, you know this. If not, witness these delightful quotes from the West Coast Wizard about his former teammate.

“I don’t know if it’s a good memory or a bad one,” Ichiro Suzuki said. “But when I first came over to play in the United States, I had had a few teammates from the U.S. who had played on my team in Japan. So I had somewhat of an idea of what American players would be like.

“But when I met him, he was kind of a human being that you would never meet in Japan. So, whenever I was around him, I almost felt like I was witnessing a creature, not a human being. It was fun for me to watch him.”

[Full disclosure: I used to write for USS Mariner, that last link. Fuller disclosure: David Cameron and Derek Zumsteg are basically made of awesome, so if you're a hardcore baseball fan, you can enjoy that site whether you care about the Mariners or not.]